The present invention relates to an inflatable slide for attachment to a house window and more particularly pertains to providing a safe escape from a burning house.
Inflatable evacuation slides are now installed on substantially all passenger-carrying aircraft to provide a means for rapid evacuation from the aircraft in the event of an emergency. In a normal situation, the aircraft door is situated so that the inflatable evacuation slide can extend directly outward therefrom with the bottom of the slide resting on a lower surface to provide a straight-line sliding surface from the aircraft door to the lower surface.
These evacuation slides, however, are not adapted for use with a house or other building where fires and the need for a rapid evacuation are more prevalent. There exists a need for a means for a rapid evacuation from a housing or other building in the event of a fire or other emergency. The present invention seeks to provide the solution to this problem.
The use of evacuation slides is known in the prior art. More specifically, evacuation slides heretofore devised and utilized for the purpose of providing a means for evacuation from an aircraft are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,973,645 to Dix et al. discloses an inflatable evacuation slide that is to be deployed from an aircraft exit. U.S. Pat. No. 4,434,870 to Fisher discloses an evacuation slide device comprised of a dual lane slide panel and two independently inflatable chambers. U.S. Pat. No. 5,360,186 to Danielson et al. discloses an inflatable slide raft assembly that can be used both as a slide for land evacuation of passengers and can also be used as a slide raft for water evacuation of passengers. U.S. Pat. No. 4,723,628 to Fisher discloses an evacuation slide for use on elevated trains where there is a restricted clearance space on either side of the railway car. U.S. Pat. No. Des. 340,965 to Lee discloses the ornamental deign for an inflatable slide.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objective and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not describe an inflatable slide for attachment to a house window for providing a safe escape from a burning house.
In this respect, the inflatable slide for attachment to a house window according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of providing a safe escape from a burning house.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for new and improved inflatable slide for attachment to a house window which can be used for providing a safe escape from a burning house. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.